Sekhmet's Vengeance
by CyberDeletion
Summary: [Tendershipping (BxR)] Someone from Bakura's past has returned as a yami with a thirst for revenge. Old memories of Ryou's are resurfacing. An ancient god is trapped in a cat's body. The clock is ticking, but for whom will the bell toll...? R&R!
1. Appearance of Sekhmet

CD: ^____^ I've been wanting to start this for a while, simply because Bakura is awesome.

Risk: *growls* Baka authoress.

Kat: *skims through chapter* Bakura's barely in this right now.

CD: I know, I know, but that's how it ended up. Bakura will be in it more in later chapters. He can't NOT be in it; he's so cool!

Kat: That, and that fact that he's going to be one of the main characters.

Risk: Just get to the stupid fic already. Readers, this has (future B/R) Yaoi and some murder. If you don't like it, then don't read the fic.

Kat: Yeah, there's a little something called "free will" that you can exercise…

CD: This chapter's just a short beginning, so nothing completely major happens besides characters get introduced. That does NOT mean "skip this chapter" if you're planning to read the rest of the story.

Risk: CyberDeletion does not own Yu-Gi-Oh. If she did, she'd be a Japanese man named Kazuki Takahashi. She's not, so she doesn't own it.

Kat: *holds up a homemade flame-thrower, consisting of a lighter duct-taped to a bottle of hair spray* All flames will be used to power this.

CD: *sweatdrop* I apologize for Ryou's OOC-ness… Please don't flame me…

~*~

A middle-aged man walked carefully around the chamber he was in. Jack and his colleagues had found the hidden tomb of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. The new archaeologist leaned against a wall and was surprised to find that a section of it moved. He pushed hard, and a door-shaped slab fell over. He grabbed a lantern and stepped through.

An entire chamber had been hidden behind the pharaoh's. On the walls were hieroglyphs and pictures of all sorts of creatures. Jack thought for a wild moment that he had seen some of them before, on cards from the popular game "Duel Monsters", but then shook his head at his foolishness. These were thousands of years old; how could they have anything to do with a silly card game? He refocused his attention to the middle of the chamber. A golden box sat on a stone pedestal surrounded by various deities. Jack opened the box and extracted a golden pendant. Remembering what he was supposed to be doing, he went to tell his colleagues.

Later, when the sun had just set, Jack was a little ways away from everyone else, trying to decipher the hieroglyphics on the box from the hidden chamber. He held the pendant on one hand as he scribbled down translations. He was so absorbed in his work, he did not notice the thief sneak up behind him. Jack was found dead a few minutes later, having been stabbed in the back repeatedly. The pendant was missing.

The mysterious item resurfaced a few months later in the hands of a wealthy collector. The old man was renowned for collecting any ancient treasures he could get his hands on. Rumors said that he gained many of his possessions via the black market, but it was never proven. A few months later, after revealing his latest commodity, he was found dead in his favorite armchair. His will had stated to donate all ancient items of value to museums all around the world. The pendant was shipped off to Japan.

A robber broke into the Domino Museum of History one night. Creeping around, the pendant caught his eye. Taking it along with a few other pieces of value, he tried to escape. He had unknowingly set off an alarm and the police had just arrived. The ambitious thief would not be taken willingly, though, and gave chase. It ended at a nearby river. The perpetrator turned to look at his pursuers and tripped, falling into the water and hitting his head on a rock. The officers were about to go get him when, out of nowhere, a delivery truck skid off the road and tipped over onto the would be criminal, crushing him. The accident was cleaned up. All of the stolen items were recovered except for the pendant.

~* Somewhere in Domino City *~

A tall girl, about 15 years old, rode down a road on her bike. Her gray eyes were striking, but shone with innocence and were in no way cold. The spiky ends of her light brown hair brushed the top of her shoulders as it swayed with her movement. An oversized black T-shirt with gold lettering (reading "Duelist"), slightly tattered blue jeans, and sneakers made up her outfit. She carried a gray cat with a blue collar. She stopped at a bridge. 

She stood by the bridge until day turned to a cloudy dusk.

"Ugh! I just KNEW he'd blow me off again! What will it be this time, his nonexistent Uncle Bob got sent to the hospital?! Let me tell you, I will NEVER wait out here again, especially when there's a storm coming." She sighed in frustration and looked down at the cat she held in her arms. Two eyes, one tinted green and the other shaded brown, looked back up at her. "What do you think, Shay? Should I finally give him a piece of my mind?" Shay purred and rubbed his head against his owner's arm. "Good, then. I'll tell him tomorrow in school." Shay suddenly jumped out of the girl's arms and ran down to the river. He stopped just short of the water and pawed at something in it, flipping whatever it was out of the water and carrying it in his mouth back to her.

"What've you got there?" She bent to take it from him and gasped. "This is… gold!" Indeed it was. The ornament dangled from a silver chain. The basic shape consisted of three triangles around a circle. Inside the circle, a symbol reminiscent of the Eye of Horus rested on top of the middle of an hourglass shape. The pendant caught the dying rays of the sun and flashed brightly… too brightly to be from the sun itself. The girl rubbed her eyes and stared at the slightly transparent person standing in front of her.

The stranger was taller and older than the first girl was. Her hair was bleached blonde from exposure to the sun and hung down to her chin in front. They both had spiky hair gray eyes, although this new pair was cold and piercing. She apparently liked leather accessories. What looked like some kind of leather collar was around her neck while each wrist was bedecked with a black "bracelet". She wore an unfastened black long coat emblazoned with "Shadow Game" on the upper left part of the jacket. A tight black sleeveless shirt, dark-colored blue jeans, and black shoes completed the ensemble.

Coolly, the newcomer surveyed the speechless girl on the ground. This lanky child… _this_ was supposed to be her Hikari? How could such a pathetic creature be the reincarnation of herself? She picked up the gray cat that was pawing at her leg and stroked it. She had known a cat just like it during her lifetime; He had been named Shay, after the Ancient Egyptian goddess of Destiny…

The surprised teen apparently recovered the ability to speak. "Hello… I'm Katsu. What's your name?" She was obviously trying to start off a friendly conversation. This Hikari was not on her guard. She started her reply as a swift kick to the head.

The Yami grabbed her Hikari by the front of her shirt. "My name is of no importance to wretches like you, but I'll allow you to learn it anyway. I assume you can read." She gently put down the cat and used her free hand to punch Katsu in the stomach. The Yami dropped her to the ground, kicked her onto her back and kneeled on her. She grabbed her captive's right arm. Withdrawing a dagger with a golden hilt from an inside pocket of her coat, she carved "Risuku" into the tender skin. She stepped away when she was finished. "Your body will be a useful tool for me…"

Pain, fear and confusion were written all over Katsu's face. "Wha-" She was knocked out by another unexpected blow to the head. Risuku faded from sight. The teenager's eyes opened, but they were not Katsu's anymore. Risuku had taken over her Hikari's body. She ignored any pain in her arm and picked up Shay again, taking off the blue collar. "Yes… this body will be useful for me… Will you be useful as well, Shay?" The cat purred in response.

~* That Night *~

Ryou sat at his kitchen table, doing homework. Clouds gathered outside. The weatherman had said that the storm wouldn't be coming for at least a few days, but weathermen were only right half the time. The white-haired Hikari looked up from his math. Something was scratching at the door. Upon opening it, a gray streak rushed inside and hid under the coffee table in the living room. It mewed and watched Ryou with an unusual pair of brown and green eyes. Ryou closed the door and approached it slowly, so as not to frighten it.

"What were you doing out there?" He gently removed it from underneath the furniture. It was wet, like it had fallen into a river. He got a towel and dried it off. It tried to 'attack' a corner of the towel. "Well, aren't you playful…" he gave it a saucer of milk. The cat lapped it up graciously. The more Ryou watched it and thought about it, the more he wished he could keep this cat. He knew Bakura would never allow him to keep a pet. Still, the idea appealed to him… he leaned over to the feline and whispered conspiratorially, feeling quite silly that he was talking to it in the first place.

"I'm going to keep you here, just until we find your owner or someone who's willing to be one. Not that I'm not willing," he said, hoping that Bakura wasn't listening, "it's just that… certain circumstances won't allow it. Also, you're going to have to keep out of sight. If Bakura finds you, he might hurt you and will definitely throw you out."

"What will I throw out?" asked a cold voice from behind him. Ryou turned around to see Bakura standing there. "This little rat-chaser? What is it doing here, anyway?"

Ryou stood up, holding the cat. "Please, I was just going to take care of it until I could find its owner." He looked down at the ground and waited to be yelled at and beaten. Nothing came. Surprised, he looked up at his Yami. Bakura was watching the cat and seemed to be thinking very hard about something.

"You can keep it on several conditions: You will be the one taking care of it. You will find whoever owns the wretched thing and give it back. If it's a stray, it gets kicked out. The cat's name is Shay. Now, go back to whatever you were doing before you let that _thing_ inside." Bakura disappeared back into the Ring.

Ryou stared at the spot where his other had just been. Bakura had appeared and disappeared from the Ring without yelling, insulting, or hurting Ryou, _and_ they now had a temporary pet.

"I wonder if Bakura's feeling alright…" he muttered. Shay mewed at him. The temporary owner sat back down to finish his homework, petting the cat and listening for the sound of rain. After all, the weatherman was only right about half the time.

~*~

CD: I'm so nice, aren't I?

Kat: No you aren't!

Risk: *growls and sharpens dagger*

CD: *duct-tapes Risk and Kat to a wall* In case you were wondering, I _did_ get the idea for Risuku and Katsu's first meeting from a bunch of Bakura/Ryou fics that I've read… which is a lot. (There's a reason I did it that way, I swear!) If it's too close to any one idea, tell me, OK? I don't want to copy. Same thing with the Millennium Pendant. I haven't read any fics with Pendants in them. If someone else has used it, it's pure coincidence! Now that you've read that… Hmm, seems like Risuku and Bakura both have a connection to "Shay". I'm gonna try to get the next chapter up soon and it'll hopefully have a visible plot. R&R and tell me if I should continue! Please?


	2. The First Strike

CD: Welcome to the next chapter…

Risuku: Number of readers: you.

Kat: *duct-taped to a chair* *mouth duct-taped shut* Mmph!

CD: Many thanks to Digimagic, for being the ONLY reviewer thus far. *hands Digimagic a few of Kat's hyperness-inducing candy bars* Of course, she's also the one who gave Kat one of her own infamous candy bars, leaving Risk with no choice but to bind her…

Risuku: *smiles evilly and holds up a roll of duct tape* Can't say I didn't enjoy it.

CD: Before we start the fic… Risk, say the disclaimer.

Risk: *growls* Why should I?

CD: *pulls out scissors* You WANT me to free Kat, don't you?

Risk: CyberDeletion does not own Yu-Gi-Oh. However, she does own her characters (me, Kat, and Shay).

CD: Good. *puts scissors away* Well, I forgot a key in the last chapter, so I'm putting one here.

"Talking"

'_Thinking_'

^^^ Dream/Memory ^^^

~*~

It was late at night. Clouds covered the moon and a chilly autumn breeze swept leaves down the road… not that many people were around to see it. There were only two people out that night, one of them closing his store for the night. The shopkeeper hummed to himself as he flipped over a sign that read, "Sorry, We're Closed", decorated with a little jack-o-lantern. Halloween was nearing. He fumbled with his keys to find the one belonging to the door.

"No, not that one… not that one either…"

"Oh, darn, you're closed?" The man turned around to see a teenaged girl looking disappointedly at him. She sighed and shoved her gloved hands into her coat pockets. "I was s'posed to run an errand for my mom."

The shopkeeper smiled kindly. "Well, it can't hurt to have one more customer. Come on in." He held the door open for her.

"Really?" She grinned and practically bounced inside. He turned on the light and let her look around for what she needed. She talked happily the entire time. "You see, I was s'posed to go out and get her some stuff 'cause she was working really really late tonight and she couldn't go get it only I forgot until a little bit ago, so… yeah. Thanks for letting me in, mister!" The girl's smile widened and she picked a few miscellaneous items from the shelves. The shopkeeper had begun to ring up the items when she picked up a roll of duct tape and looked at it carefully. "Hey, what's that?"

The man leaned forward to see the roll of tape. "I don't see anyth-" He was cut of when she duct-taped his mouth shut and shoved him onto the counter.

The girl's slightly-airheaded grin changed to a smirk. "You really are a kind man. Unfortunately, 'kind' doesn't count in reality." Keeping the dazed shopkeeper down with one hand, she pulled out a dagger and embedded it in his head. She pierced his heart as well. She pulled out one sprig of a plant - a type of basil, to be more precise - and set it inside the heart wound, just to see if her true target would figure out the meaning and be on guard.

"That Tomb Robber isn't the only one who can act," she said to herself, as she carved a simple lioness' head onto the corpse. She licked a little of the blood off of the knife and stowed it safely away in her Hikari's jacket. There would be no more killings tonight. She was content to practice on the weaker prey before proceeding to the true hunt. The Yami left the shop after destroying any surveillance tapes and continued towards her other half's house.

'_Tread carefully, Tomb Robber,_' she thought, '_It is nearly the Feast of Sekhmet._ _Her coming brought death to many and ended with the taste of alcohol; mine will not stop until I taste my sweet revenge in your blood._'

~* The next Day, Domino High, between classes *~

"Did you hear? Some guy-"

"- murdered -"

"- tapes destroyed -"

"- no suspects -"

Ryou sat in his desk at school, listening to people ramble on about how somebody was murdered the previous night. He couldn't remember what he had been doing around the time it was said to have happened; what if Bakura had taken over and done it? As far as he knew, his Yami had had no motive to kill the man, but still… Ryou wished he could ask Bakura about it, but he didn't want to anger him. Better to keep his mouth shut. It was still a source of amazement to think about yesterday after school. He had been planning to secretly keep a pet, Bakura had found out, and he hadn't even been insulted. Was his Yami plotting something? Did he want to try to lull Ryou into a false sense of security? It wouldn't be very surprising.

The bell rang, pulling Ryou away from his thoughts. There was the usual noise as everyone tried to make it to their individual seats. The teacher began the class immediately.

~* Bakura's Soul Room *~

Whack!

Another knife hit the wall. Bakura sat against the opposite wall, aimed, and threw another. It landed right underneath the first. He had been doing this for a while now.

'_Why?_' he thought, flinging another knife at the wall, '_Why does that cat's appearance bother me so much? It looks like Shay, but they obviously can't be the same._' Bakura thought back to Ancient Egypt. When he was young he had 'owned' a cat. Actually, he had given the cat a bite to eat and it had stayed. He had shared it with a friend of his when he was a child.

'_Friends! Ra, what was I thinking?_' Bakura paused in his knife-throwing. '_I was such a foolish child… I was weak. I stole for the both of us, and she nearly stole my heart. I grew _attached _to her. Is this punishment? Am I surrounded by idiots for having been one myself?_' Whack! '_It matters not. I left her eventually, and she disappeared after some members of the pharaoh's army took her away._' Whack! Whack! '_Her and that cat both._' Whack! '_If they're gone, then why does that damn cat bother me so much?_'

The white-haired spirit growled. Why _was_ he so irritated by that cat? What had possessed him to let it stay? It was a little _pet_. It would only continue to soften his weak little Hikari. It was time for another lesson. The knives faded away and he sat, waiting for the end of the school day.

~* After School, Ryou's house *~

Ryou sat on his bed, petting Shay. There had been no luck finding any owners so far. He kept glancing nervously down at the Millennium Ring. He had gotten the feeling that his Yami wasn't too happy with him at that moment.

'_He's probably realized that he's actually let me have a companion. I hope he doesn't hurt Shay when he comes out,_' he thought, knowing that Bakura would come. Ryou was overdue for his most recent 'lesson'. Bakura always stated that Ryou was too weak for anyone's good, and that the beatings were to toughen him up. It hadn't worked. All it ever caused were wounds… many that hurt much more than any knife could ever cause.

"I see you've still got that furball."

Ryou looked up to see the ghostly form of his Yami standing next to the bed. "Sumimasen*… I haven't found his owners yet."

"You're pathetic. I see how you pet and play with that furry creature. I see how you _pamper_ it. They way you're _gentle _and _kind_ to it. It's sickening." Bakura grabbed Ryou by the hair and yanked him off the bed, next grabbing him by the neck and pinning him to the wall. "You disgust me." The spirit pulled out a knife and pressed it against Ryou's skin, dragging it down the arms of his prey. Blood spilled out of the wounds and onto the knife. He punched Ryou in the stomach twice before letting go of his victim's throat. Bakura continued punching him, kicking him, and cutting him for a while longer, telling Ryou what a worthless Hikari he was the entire time. Eventually, he stood back to "admire his work". Ryou was on his knees, holding his stomach, coughing up blood.

"As wonderful as it is to see blood, it is not wonderful to have a room smelling of it and raising people's suspicions. Clean it up." With that last comment, he disappeared back into the Item.

Ryou was left on the floor, alone except for his cat. Why did his Yami keep treating him this way? What had he done to deserve this? Tears ran down his pale cheeks. He knew, even though it didn't make sense, that he was in love with his Yami. He had felt that way ever since he had first set eyes on his darker half. He knew it was unrequited; that was quite obvious. It seemed so unfair that such things should exist outside of books and movies. That was how his life had been, though. Unfair. For him, pain and love were one in same.

The sound of things falling came from the bathroom. Ryou stood up shakily and limped towards the bathroom the see what was going on. He found Shay trying to push the First Aid kit towards him. Ryou bent down and scratched the feline behind the ears.

"Aren't you a clever one?" he said, taking the kit and going to clean himself up.

~* That Night *~

Ryou lay on his bed, tossing and turning in a nightmare.

^^^ He was back in his first house. It was not the one he lived in now, but the one he had lived in with his family before… before _it_ happened. Ryou walked around the second floor until he reached a door that had a crude picture of a smiling cat taped to it. Right underneath the picture, in poor handwriting that could only belong to a young child, were the words "Ryou's Room". Ryou opened the door. Inside, a few toys and simple books lay scattered on the floor. The white-haired tenshi sat on a child-sized bed and sighed. He would wait, as usual, for it all to end. He did not want to go any further. The further he went, the harder it would be to ignore the screams…

He sat in the room, his hands over his ears in a vain attempt to block out what was happening in a nearby room. Ryou could practically see the white carpet staining to a shade of red. Despite him covering his ears, he soon heard a man talking and dragging someone behind him.

"You're only here because it would look suspicious if it happened to everyone but me at once. Trust me, though, things won't stay this way for long. Once everything cools down, You're next." ^^^

Ryou opened his eyes, looking around his room as if to make sure he wasn't in another dream. He rubbed his eyes. They were wet; he had been crying in his sleep. Why should he cry? Everything had happened a long time ago. He should move on… if he did, maybe he wouldn't be having these nightmares anymore. It was hard to, though, knowing the person responsible for many of his problems was still at large. He had even sent him the Millennium Ring, a blessing and a curse in itself.

Staring at the ceiling, Ryou eventually fell asleep, only to repeat the same dream again.

Bakura materialized outside of the Ring. He saw Ryou asleep, tears silently falling as the boy had another nightmare. Bakura had always meant to question Ryou about them, but never got around to it. Of course that lead to the question, "Why did he care?" He had not been able to get his mind off of Ryou after he had given him the beating. He actually felt _concern_ for the boy whenever he sensed his fear, even though it was just because of a nightmare. Bakura could have kicked himself. As much as he hated to admit it, he was attached to him. He hid it by continuing to hurt Ryou.

Bakura turned and looked around. He felt as though he were being watched. No one was there, though, except for Shay, who was pawing at the window to be let out. The Spirit of the Millennium Ring glared at the feline and practically shoved it outside after opening the window. Casting one final glance at Ryou, Bakura disappeared back into his Item.

Shay padded silently away from his temporary household. Going just around the corner, he stopped and looked up at the girl in front of him. Risuku had been waiting.

"Well, god of fate…?"

Amazingly, the cat talked. "I still don't know how you found me out," he said, rather accusingly.

"Are you going to give me a report or and I going to have to extract one from you?"

He cleaned himself, uneasy in her presence. "Ryou Bakura is Bakura's reincarnation, as you suspected. You could get to them through their feelings for one another, but neither knows the other cares for them."

"And the murders? Has Bakura seen the mark?"

"I'm not sure if Bakura is even aware of the murders, although Ryou has heard a little about them."

"What people will say to their pets… they will confide in anything that they think cannot talk. Ah, well… No knowledge of details means I'll have to kill again. Someone they both know, perhaps? Continue to keep an eye on them for me." She looked over Shay carefully. "Do _not_ get attached to either of them." With that, Risuku and Shay both went their separate ways.

~*~

CD: *sigh* Next to none on the plot movement… oh well. There's always another chapter.

Kat: *still strapped to the chair, trying to break free* Mmmmmph!

CD: Oh yeah, Kat's right. I'd like to thank Digimagic for letting me use an idea of hers. She knows which one.

Risk: *raises an eyebrow* You understood what Kat said?

CD: Yeah… so?

Risk: *sighs* Never mind about that. I've got an idea about Ryou's recurring dream. The first person to review guessing who the man was and what happened gets to decide who dies next. It shouldn't be too hard.

CD: Isn't that a little… morbid?

Risk: Yeah… so?

CD: *sighs* Alrighty. You heard her; guess the man and the incident and you get to play god. (No telling anyone, Digi! You know that I know that you know…) You can't kill Bakura, Ryou, or my OC's. Everyone else is fair game. Please read and review!


End file.
